The report brought together 27 national experts across Europe, and examined regulations, size of the industry, as well as the stance of government and the banking industry. It covers Peer-2-Peer businesses and consumers lending, donations, rewards and equity models and provides delineated insights on the current state of the industry by using the ‘Alternative Finance Maturity Index’ based on 15 key research areas. The Research has been initiated by CrowdfundingHub and FG Lawyers and conducted with the following participating law firms in the 11 EU member states: Curia, Sorainen, Castrén & Snellman, Osborne Clarke, Wardyński and Hellström.

2016 Current State of CrowdFunding Report

In almost all European countries volumes are rising quickly, but large differences between countries remain. Crowdfunding is since 2015 present in Lithuania, who now implemented new legislations to combat the non-market activity.

The UK remains the most mature Alternative Finance Industry when it comes to volumeas well as ecosystem. Countries such as the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Estonia and Austria have lower volumes than the UK, however the ecosystem development in each of these countries has the potential to lead to a strong Alternative Finance industry in the next couple of years.

„Our research shows that there is a very strong and positive correlations between governments support and industry growth and maturity. We are happy to see that more countries are now adopting legislations for the industry and we expect crowdfunding volumes to increase even further in the coming years, “ says Ronald Kleverlaan, CEO of CrowdfundingHub.

Alternative Finance is becoming a true alternative for business financing. In some countries such as the United Kingdom, more than 10% of businesses are financed by alternative finance and this percentage is growing rapidly. However, the lack of a clear taxonomy and transparency at European level make it difficult for businesses, investors as well as platforms and regulators to distinguish between different models of alternative finance.

„The Current State of Crowdfunding report is a step in bridging the information gap and provides actors with an updated overview on the industry, but there is still a lot of work to be done,“ says Carlien Roodink, manager director of CrowdfundingHub. She points out that in the majority of countries there is little data available and there is a call for more transparency and independence when it comes to collecting and aggregating data.